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Ludlow Food Centre Wins Two Bronze Awards at the 2018 British Cheese Awards (3rd July 2018)

Ludlow Food Centre is celebrating having won Bronze awards for both their Unsalted butter and Cheese With No Name at the 2018 British Cheese Awards (www.britishcheeseawards.com/results).

The winners were announced at the British Cheese Awards Dinner held on Wednesday 30th May. The awards and dinner, celebrating their 25th year, took place on the first day of the Royal Bath & West Show, Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

The unsalted butter and Cheese With No Name are just two of the many products that are made by Dudley and his team at Ludlow Food Centre. Along with other award winning cheeses and butters, the Dairy produce yoghurts, puddings and ice cream all made with milk from the Centre’s own farm.

This year’s competition attracted over 1,000 entries from 147 makers, with 77 judges reviewing 123 classes of cheese. Cheeses entered came from over 54 counties that covered the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland, showing just how vibrant the British Cheese Industry is today.

Dudley, Ludlow Food Centre’s Dairy Manager said about winning: “I am so proud of what our team has achieved. The competition was fierce and to gain two awards is a fantastic achievement. We are continually striving for excellence with all our cheeses and to have our cheese and butter recognised by the independent experts at The British Cheese Awards makes all the hard work by the dairy team worth it.”

Peter Mitchell, chairman of the British Cheese Awards, says: “Congratulations to Ludlow Food Centre for winning Bronze for its cheese Cheese With No Name. It’s a great achievement and recognition of the care and attention put into making it and its quality.”

“We were really thrilled to have such a large number of entries for this year’s awards. The number and quality of the cheeses entered this year has been exceptional and made judging and choosing who received an award a real challenge.”

As well as Supreme Champion, the Reserve Champion, the four Country Awards and the eight Main Category Awards, there were also 13 Special Awards given to cheesemakers. Within the Special Awards there was a new award this year for Best Sheep Milk Cheese.

The British Cheese Awards were started by cheese expert Juliet Harbutt in 1994 to celebrate the renaissance in British cheese making and to raise awareness of the diversity and quality of British artisan cheese. In the first year there were 296 entries from 97 cheesemakers but by 2015 there were nearly 1,000 from 296 Cheesemakers! At the invitation of the committee, Juliet returned to the UK to judge at this year’s awards and presented one of the awards at the dinner.

Judges scored the cheeses on presentation, texture, aroma, flavour and balance. Dependent on the scores that each cheese received, gold, silver and bronze medals were awarded.

The Awards also welcomed Michel Roux OBE, and the holder of 3 Michelin Stars, at his restaurant The Waterside Inn for over 30 years, restaurateur, author, as a Senior Judge. Mon. Roux was a member of the Supreme Champion Panel, members of which judged which of the 1,000 cheeses entered was crowned the Supreme Champion 2018.

Michel Roux OBE says: “I was delighted to be a senior judge at this year’s British Cheese Awards. A deep passion since childhood, my fascination with cheese has led me to many corners of the world. It is the most ancient and mysterious, yet humble and universal of foods. English varieties are some of the best I have tasted, so I couldn’t wait to get stuck in and help celebrate its 25th birthday!”